Strong sales for Mazda worldwide back up his support. From March through August and into preliminary numbers for September, says Morris, "Every month has been the best in the last 10 years."

In addition, "zoom-zoom" moved up sharply on an Internet survey. The Nikkei group of business publishers ranked Japan-market advertising tag lines on a combination of likability, memorability and other traits.

Mazda jumped from 30th on the list last year to 18th, after the release of a commercial that used Japanese words in place of the English "zoom-zoom."

Among automakers, Mazda ranked second on the list behind Mitsubishi Motors Corp. Mitsubishi was 15th with "Heartbeat Motors," a tag line it dropped on Sept. 28.

Despite their larger advertising budgets, Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. did not make the top 20.

Their respective tag lines in Japan are: Toyota, "Drive your dreams"; Honda, "The power of dreams"; and Nissan, "Shift."

Stacy94PGT
My first car was a 67 Mustang Coupe, 2nd one was a 67 Cougar XR-7, 3rd one was a 66 Mustang Coupe. Why did I get rid of these cars for ? I know why, because I'm stupid, stupid, stupid.